ELO 2 [AKA: ELECTRIC LIGHT ORCHESTRA II‎]

'Electric Light Orchestra II' (titled 'ELO 2' outside of the US), was a big move away from the more stark and raw sounding first album and released two years after the debut. Ron Wood stuck around long enough to be recorded for two of the album's tracks playing bass and cello, but he left while the album was being finished and formed the band 'Wizard'. Interestingly enough, he was not credited on the original release. This left Jeff Lynne completely in charge of the band. Bev Bevan remained with the band and Richard Tandy joined at this time on keyboards. Mike Edwards and Wilf Gibson replaced Wood and along with other guests, provided the 'orchestral strings' that worked to retain the original goal of the band, to use strings in place of guitars for the most part.

What resulted was a more concise album, the best and also the most progressive that the band would put out in it's long history. Originally, the album was to be titled 'The Lost Planet', but that was eventually shelved. The album has 5 tracks, all of them longer than most pop fare, and definitely more complex and progressive than what you would hear on the radio. However, there was also a more blatant use of rock n' roll mixed with a classical sense throughout the record.

The first track sounds the most like the previous album, but is much heavier and uses more guitar, though it is dense and heavy like the debut album. This is one of the tracks that Wood performs on, but was not credited. 'In Old England Town (Boogie No. 2)' contains Lynne's rough vocals, but, in my opinion, some of his best work is on this album. A long instrumental introduction plays through and introduces the themes of the track in a dark and heavy, cello-laden manner. Jeff's vocals are quite gruff on this one, giving it more of a hard rock sound than most of the music they were writing at the time. The tricky timing and changing meters shows the progressive side of the band which after this album would unfortunately appear less and less as the years went on. (Personal opinion: I would almost bet the theme from 'Jaws' came from one of the cello riffs on this song.) It has always been a puzzler for me why this would have an alternate name of 'Boogie No. 2' when there is no boogie present on this at all. It is more of a slow blues, albeit quite complex.

'Momma'' (titled 'Mama' in the US) is more of a rhapsodic ballad, one of ELO's most beautiful, but then they had several beautiful ballads through the years. The strains of the strings are pleading and emotional and Jeff's vocals are perfect, sometimes bringing a 'stage' over-the-top feeling, very dramatic, yet full of passion and feeling. This is followed by the only song not written by Lynne on the album, a cover of 'Roll Over Beethoven'. While it is true this is a rock and roll tune that had already been covered countless times, this cover goes on for over 8 minutes (edited down to under 8 minutes in the UK), is introduced by one of Beethoven's famous themes performed mostly by the strings, and then it suddenly breaks into its usual rock and roll sound, but improvised on to create an excellent jam based off of the Chuck Berry tune but also throwing in bits of Beethoven throughout the rousing version. This is by far the best cover of that song in existence (or at least that I have heard). It is also the song that best emulates the direction that The Beatles were taking of combining more complex structures with old time rock, the goal that the band originally set out to make. Rock and Roll and Progressive Music? The answer here is 'Yes!'

So, as good as the first side of this album is, can it be possible that the 2nd side is even better. It is, as it contains the two best tracks that Electric Light Orchestra would ever produce. 'From the Sun to the World (Boogie No. 1)' is the 2nd track with Wood performing, but it's still Lynne's vocals. The alternate name 'Boogie No. 1' fits this track much better than the previous one as there is actually some excellent boogie riffs in here, but you have to wait for them. Wait patiently, because the pay off is worth it. It begins as a passionate rhapsody with piano and synths providing a lovely beginning, which builds in a nice synth riff backed by cello following the synth riff almost note for note. Lynne's voice is rough again, but not as heavy here as the song is more upbeat, but with the complex rock sound. The cello riff combined with the violins is an excellent pairing, and you don't miss the guitars at all. This gives way to a piano solo returning to the rhapsodic beginning for a lovely passage that gets joined by a pleading violin. So lovely and emotional! When this ends, there is a pause and then the piano bursts into that boogie riff that comes out of nowhere. Excellent! Now the piano plays the rhapsody melody with fast churning boogie riff playing behind it and the other instruments join in. I absolutely love this track!

But what follows is a masterpiece in progressive music, the absolute perfect track 'Kuiama'. It is the longest track that ELO would ever produce. It follows the story of a soldier trying to console a young girl whose parents he had to kill during wartime. Talk about a strong statement. This track was apparently one of the band's favorites, as it should be since it is a track that broke from the commercial boundaries that seemed to bind the band in later years. The song is emotional and dramatic with ever changing instrumental passages, a mini concept album in and of itself. Heavy and dark through most of its long run time, it also has some experimental and minimal sections. The reappearance of melodic themes throughout makes this more of a singular, long form composition than it does a suite, which is the route most progressive bands seem to take, and this incorporation of changing and recurring themes makes this track even more complex. Simply astounding and masterful, this is one of my all time favorite epic progressive works. The fact that the strings are used so well here only makes it that much better. And the loud, climactic and cinematic ending leaves the sounds of war presented through the strings echoing through your head which only strengthens the anti-war message of the song. Simply incredible!

There are a few other reissues of the album that add bonus tracks to the album, but they are great only as supporting material. The best bonus tracks come from the 'First Light Series' 30th anniversary edition which adds in an early version of 'Showdown' (which would appear on their next album 'On the Third Day', a session outtake called 'Baby I Apologize', some early versions of 'Ma-Ma-Ma Belle' called 'Auntie' in its early incarnation, and some other outtakes along with another take of 'Roll Over Beethoven'. As I mentioned, this is only great supplemental material for interested fans, but doesn't really add to the album itself. Most of the material in the bonus tracks was recorded for the next album "On the Third Day" which was already in production at the same time as this album. You can already tell the outtakes are more pop-oriented than anything on this original album.

It makes me sad to think about the potential this band had if it continued in this direction. But unfortunately, even though subsequent albums would be pretty good for a while before it headed completely down hill in the 80s, nothing in their discography would match this masterpiece of an album. The band proves its worth in progressive music mostly on the 2nd side of the album, but the entire album is worthwhile. This is one of my own personal 6 star rated albums, one of the few.